2nd best VAN draft pick, selections 121-150

[Jyrki21]

It would be interesting to start a new series of threads (one at a time) with a poll where we can vote on the best player we ever drafted (wether they ended up playing for us or not ) at round #9, #8, #7... and so on...

I guess that might be a little time consuming if there isn't a website that lists our draft history organized by rounds. I've been looking, but haven't found one yet.

Onto what is today the 5th round – picks 121–150.

Remember, picks are organized in groups of 30, rather than what round they were at the time (as though the league always had 30 teams).

The selections are color-coded for position, and ordered in descending number of games played.

Picks 121-150 (Current 5th round):

This one might be more interesting. Cooke has had the longest career, but from a Canuck standpoint Lidster still holds the single-season record for points by a defenseman, while Scott Walker carved out a niche as a very notable role player and put up as many points as Cooke in far fewer games.

Previous vote:

1. Doug Lidster, 100%

Click to read more...

 

[Dissonance]

Cooke vs Walker is a tough one.

Walker obviously peaked much higher — had one year where he was top-25 in scoring — but he had a lot more ups and downs in his career.

Cooke, by contrast, was a consistent high-level 3rd-line agitator for nearly 15 years. The fact that he missed so few games playing like he did was impressive. And his production was actually pretty stellar, especially considering he never got the PP opportunities that Walker did in Nashville. Plus, it was fun seeing him annoy the opposition night in and night out.

Sopel probably had the two most valuable seasons as a Canuck as a top-4 defenseman between 2002-04. Excellent skater and risk-taker who made our transition game much more dangerous. Unfortunately he's mostly remembered now for hurting himself with a cracker.

I'd say Cooke.

 

[David Bruce Banner]

I always liked Walker and was sad when we lost him.

But once he moved on he did end up showing that he had talent to go along with his toughness. Too bad his playing style wasn't conducive to a long playing career.

Anyway, I'd put this Walker-Keene tilt up as one of the Top 5 Canucks' fights of all time...

 

[Jyrki21]

Anyone want to break a tie?